Rescue or Escape?
by Zgirl101
Summary: Eggman's at it again. He's trying to steal the emeralds, but for what? As Sonic and co. try to figure it out, Eggman collects all but one chaos emerald. Oh, and he has a new invention that will completely throw off the enemy, as Sonic finds out when he gets injured...and then captured. This is my first story, so please R & R!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Sonic, wake up already!" Tails shouted from the kitchen.

Sonic groaned. They had gotten home late last night, and he was still pretty tired.

"I have breakfast!" That got him up. He zoomed out of his room and into the kitchen.

"So, what's the plan for today?" He asked.

"Well, Knuckles called while you were asleep. He said it was important," Tails answered.

"Did he say anything else?"

"Only that Shadow was coming too."

"Shadow? What's he got to do with…oh, wait, you don't think this has something to do with the Master Emerald, do you?" As soon as Sonic asked, Tail's expression told him that he thought so too.

Now Sonic was nervous. For one thing, if someone stole the Master Emerald, Angel Island would fall into who knows where. Another problem would be dealing with whoever stole it, although it would probably be Eggman again. He just doesn't give up, does he?

"Eggman needs to come up with something more original. What is this, like, the fourth or fifth time he's attempted to steal it?" Sonic asked.

"Pretty much. Let's go. I want to see what this is all about," Tails said.

XXXX

Knuckles was standing nervously on the steps of the small pyramid. He saw the Tornado, and immediately walked down to greet Sonic and Tails. "Hey! Glad you guys made it. Shadow just got here too."

Sonic cut to the chase. "So, what's wrong this time, Knux? Eggman stealing your Master Emerald again?"

"Not exactly," Knuckles replied. "It was stolen, but by who I have no idea. I never even left these steps. I just sat here with my back facing the Master Emerald. I just happened to check on it when I saw a flash. Then, it was gone. That's it."

"Hmmm…curious," Tails said. "And there was absolutely no trace of it?"

"Nope."

Shadow walked up. "Hey there, faker. What's up?"

"Oh, not much. Just helping to save the day again," Sonic joked.

"Yeah, well, I think we've hit a dead end. I just don't see how someone could've taken the Master Emerald the way Knuckles described."

"Uh, guys?" Tails was kneeling by the emerald's empty pedestal. "The Master Emerald wasn't stolen."

They were all confused. "What? How?" Knuckles asked. "I don't see what you're getting at."

Tails laughed. "No wonder! The emerald's right here! It's just invisible. Come here, you can feel it."

So, of course, they all felt it. Shadow voiced an idea he had about the situation. "I bet it was Eggman. He probably turned the Master Emerald invisible to make it seem like it was gone. Then, when Knuckles would go to look for it, Eggman could snatch it without any problems," He concluded.

"Gee, talkative much?" Sonic muttered.

"No, no. He's right. That's exactly what I would've done. Good thing I decided to call you guys up first," Knuckles said.

They were quiet for a moment, all of them thinking the same questions, none of them voicing them. Finally, Sonic broke the silence. "Okay, we know that Eggman wants the Master Emerald again. The question is, what does he need it for?"

"And how do we make the emerald visible again?" He continued.

"I can talk to Tikal. She might have a suggestion," Knuckles stated.

"I guess we're going to find out," Tails said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

While Knuckles was doing his thing with the invisible Master Emerald, with Shadow watching next to him, Tails and Sonic talked.

"So, the emerald," Sonic started.

"Yeah…I'm surprised Eggman did what he did. There are too many variables. It just doesn't sound like him," Tails said.

"He's probably just trying different things after all his failed attempts."

"Like he's getting desperate? But wouldn't the chaos emeralds be easier to use?"

He thought about that. "I think so. They're smaller and still have a lot of power."

"I hope Eggman isn't going after the Master Emerald because he already has the chaos emeralds. We need to check, but with who?" Tails wondered.

"Well, Shadow's right here. Shadow!" Sonic yelled. "You still got your chaos emerald?"

He came over. "Yeah, it's right over there." He pointed to one side at the bottom of the temple.

The pair headed over to where he pointed. They looked around for the emerald, but didn't see it.

"Shad! What color is it?" Sonic yelled up to him.

"It's the dark blue one!" He shouted back.

They looked around some more, then climbed back up to Shadow and Knuckles.

"Bad news, guys. We can't find the chaos emerald," Sonic said nervously.

"What?! Are you sure it's not invisible? Look harder! It might still be there!" Shadow demanded.

The black hedgehog looked ready to jump at him. "Cool it, Shads. It's not there. I'm positive."

"To be sure that Tails is right, we should check with another person," Sonic continued. "Anyone know who?" He asked.

They thought a bit.

"Rouge," They all said simultaneously.

Sonic smiled. "Exactly."

XXXX

Since Shadow worked with Rouge from time to time, he called her on their wrist communicators.

"Hey, we've got a problem here. Something to do with the chaos emeralds."

"But your geographical location is over the ocean," She said in confusion.

"I'm on Angel Island," he replied.

"Oh. And the Master Emerald…"

"Yeah. Knuckles thought it was stolen."

"What do you mean 'thought'?" She asked.

"Well, it turns out it was just invisible," He answered.

"Invisible?!"

"Yeah. Do you have your chaos emerald? Because mine's gone."

"How?!"

"We don't know."

"We? Alright, that's it. I think I need to see this for myself. I'll be there in 20 minutes. And I'll bring my chaos emerald, too." She ended the call.

Shadow walked back to us. "Rouge is on her way."

"Yeah, we heard," Knuckles said.

They were quiet for a while.

"Now that that's settled, what do we do?" Tails asked.

"I guess we wait," Sonic plainly stated.

"I'm going to search for my chaos emerald some more. You probably missed it, faker," Shadow said.

Sonic growled. "Fine, go ahead and try. But I know you won't find anything, faker.

"Whatever."  
He walked down to the ground and began combing the dirt for any sign of his chaos emerald. Tails and Knuckles exchanged glances, and also went down the pyramid. Sonic followed, exasperated.

Shadow apparently thought that if he kicked up enough dust while running, some would land on the emerald, and then they would see it.

Well, the only thing the dust landed on was the three figures standing by.

Sonic sighed, annoyed. "See? What did I tell you? Your chaos emerald is gone, Shadow."

"I know," he replied.

"Sheesh. The only good that came out of this is that it took up time. If she's not late, Rouge will be here in less than 10 minutes," Knuckles said.

Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic used that time to brush off all the dust. Shadow kept looking for his emerald, although they all knew it was hopeless.  
While cleaning up, Knuckles described his talk with Tikal. "She wasn't aware that anything had happened. She said she just felt a shock, and then everything was normal again. I don't think being invisible has affected the Master Emerald." He concluded.

"The only way this business with the emeralds could've happened is if Eggman built an invisibility ray or something," Tails said. "How else could he have stolen Shadow's chaos emerald when we were only 50 feet away?"

"Rouge might be able to help," I said. "If anything happened to her chaos emerald, she'd know it right away."

The trio went back to waiting.

Finally, Rouge appeared in the sky. As she landed, Sonic saw her face clearly. Immediately, he knew something was wrong. She looked frustrated and upset.

"I've got really bad news. My green chaos emerald was stolen from me, too," she said glumly. Then she pouted. "And I thought I could never lose a jewel..."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"For a while now, I've been keeping my chaos emerald in a vault owned by G.U.N.," Rouge explained. "After I talked with Shadow, I went to get it, but I couldn't find it. I asked one of the guards if it had been moved, but he said no. It just vanished."

"Well, that goes along perfectly with what happened here," Sonic said.

"What do you mean?"

Tails took over. "It started like this. Sonic and I got here soon after Shadow did. We went to the top of the pyramid and Knuckles explained what happened. I was kneeling by the Master Emerald's pedestal when I bumped into something. The problem was, I didn't know what I bumped into. So I stretched my hands forward, and there it was. The Master Emerald was still there, just invisible."

"We think Eggman may have invented some kind of invisibility ray, because Shadow's emerald disappeared sometime when we were talking. And it's gone, not just invisible," Knuckles added.

"That's not good. I need to alert the president about this. Actually, I think I might just head back so I can check up on the other chaos emeralds," Rouge said. "Be careful, guys. Knowing Eggman, he'll try and take the Master Emerald forcefully, since sneakiness didn't work. Bye!"

She flew off.

The group watched her go. "Now what do we do?" Tails asked.

"I guess we just-" Knuckles was cut off by a loud snap! in the trees.

"Quiet!" Shadow whispered. They all strained to hear something.

There was a rustling in the woods, and the group stood back-to-back. "Be ready," Sonic muttered under his breath.

A few more seconds passed. Suddenly, there was a bang from somewhere in front of Tails. Sonic jumped into action. He caught a bullet in mid air that probably would've killed Tails.

"ATTACK!" a loud voice boomed. Sonic knew it all too well.

The trees burst apart, revealing probably a hundred robots, ready to fight. Eggman appeared in his eggcarrier overhead. "Get the emerald! Kill anyone who gets in the way!" he screeched.

Sonic figured out a plan. "Knuckles, stay up here and protect the Master Emerald! Tails, you take care of any flying robots! Shadow, you and Itake out the ground forces! Got it?"

"Got it!" Tails yelled as he took off into the air.

"Come on, Shadow!" The hedgehogs ran down the pyramid.

They split up. Half the robots went to Shadow, the other half to Sonic.

Sonic started off well enough. He spindashed through the first five or so, and performed several homing attacks. Shadow was flinging chaos spears in every direction, effectively mowing down even more robots.

A group separated and headed up the pyramid, where they found Knuckles. He smashed through them all. Tails was doing well also, and kept the air forces away from the Master Emerald.

Then things started to go wrong. Eggman brought out some kind of weapon, and began aiming at his own ground forces. "This will throw you for a loop!" he shouted.

He shot a group of robots near Shadow. Immediately, they disappeared. He shot some more surrounding Sonic.

Shadow took out the first couple, but he missed one. Invisibly, the robot ran behind Shadow and hit him on the back of the head. He fell, dazed.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled. He ran over and tried to keep the rest of the robots away from the midnight hedgehog, but at a cost. They both had forgotten about the robots' guns, and while they could normally dodge each shot, Sonic stood his ground to protect Shadow. A bullet found its mark, and hit Sonic in the shoulder. He yelped and went down also.

By now, Shadow was standing up, and started fighting again. But it wasn't enough. For every robot he destroyed, two more took it's place. And he had to stay in one spot. Otherwise, Sonic would be wide open in his near defenseless state.

Shadow sighed. He didn't want to do this. But as he blasted another robot, he knew he had no choice. "Knuckles!" he shouted. "I need help down here! Sonic got shot!"

"Crap," Knuckles muttered. He knew that if he went down to help, he would have to leave the Master Emerald wide open. But he also knew Shadow. He wouldn't ask for help unless things were desperate.

"Tails! Try and protect the emerald the best you can! I need to help on the ground!" With that, Knuckles jumped down and began knocking down robots. He stood opposite Shadow, with Sonic in between, where he was as safe as the situation allowed.

Tails flew down to the top of the pyramid and did the best he could, but he didn't know about the invisible robots. He had been too high up to notice. And that did it. The same robot that hit Shadow punched Tails in the stomach. He went "oof!" and fell to his knees. Eggman saw this, flew over, and hooked a rope around the Master Emerald. Then he flew off, the emerald swaying beneath him.

"Retreat! We got what we came for. Pull back!" He yelled. He didn't want to waste any robots.

It took a couple minutes, but the fifty or so remaining robots retreated to the forest. There was the sound of an engine starting, and a huge ship flew off the island. Then, all was quiet.

Until Tails groaned. He pulled himself off the stones and headed down to see how the other three were doing.

Knuckles had a couple scrapes and bruises, but nothing serious. Shadow was still slightly dazed. But Sonic was the worst. Blood was flowing out of the wound. The bullet had gone straight through his shoulder. Fortunately, it was the shoulder opposite his heart, but it was still pretty bad.

"I need to get him back to my house," Tails said worriedly. "I can take care of him there."

"Okay," Knuckles said. "But I'm coming with you."

"So am I," Shadow said. He still couldn't believe it. Sonic had taken a bullet in order to protect him. He felt like he had to come with him. He owed him.

"Besides, without the Master Emerald, the island will fall. It will be fine in the ocean." Knuckles said.

"Alright. I'll bring the Tornado over hear. You guys get Sonic in the second seat." Tails ordered.

They did as they were told. "Will you two be fine on the wings?" Tails asked.

"Yeah," Knuckles answered. Shadow stayed quiet. With that, Tails got the Tornado in the air, and began flying home.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Thank goodness we're hear. Sonic looks even worse than before," Tails said as he landed the Tornado.

It was true. Sonic had tried to stem the flow of blood during the flight, but he eventually fell unconscious due to exhaustion and pain. He was also turning pale from blood loss.

Tails took command of the situation. "Knuckles, Shadow, carry Sonic into the house and set him down on the couch in the living room. I need to get the medical things I need. And I'll call for more help."

As Tails left to get his things, he thought about who to call. One person specifically popped in his mind. She could help with Sonic, even if it might annoy him later. Besides, if Tails didn't call her and tell her what was going on, she would come for all of them, with her hammer swinging.

That decided it. Tails dialed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Amy. It's me, Tails."

"Hi Tails. What's up?"

"Um, well, we've got a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"Uh, a really big problem. I need your help."

There was silence on the other end.

"Oh, no," she whispered fearfully. "What's wrong with him?"

"Who?" He asked, although he already knew.

"Sonic! Something must've happened. That's the only reason you would ask me for help."

Now it was Tails' turn to be quiet.

"Dang it, Tails! Answer me! What happened to Sonic?!" She screeched.

"H-he got h-hurt," Tails stuttered. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

"When? Where?" She demanded.

Tails steeled himself. "This morning. Angel Island."

"Hmm...why were you two there?"

"We were...you know what? I'll explain when you get here. That is, you're coming, right?"

"Of course! I'd do anything to help Sonic. I'll be there in, maybe, 5 minutes or so," she answered.

"Good. See you then."

"Bye."

She hung up.

Tails felt a little better. Amy could help a lot, and he would need it. Yeah, Knuckles and Shadow were there, but they didn't really have any medical experience. Tails did, but having two people is much easier. And, he thought, Sonic would need it.

Tails grabbed his medical tools and walked back into his house. When he reached the living room, he was met by a surprising sight. Sonic was lying on the couch, still unconscious. The surprising part was that he was covered with a blanket, and had a washcloth on his forehead. Tails looked at Knuckles and Shadow, who were sitting nearby, in curiosity.

"Which one of you did this?" He asked.

"It was all Shadow," Knuckles answered. "I had nothing to do with it."

Tails was astonished. "Shadow, I didn't know you knew how to deal with things like this."

He just shrugged. "He was shivering, and his forehead was hot. I just did what I could."

Tails was moved, and a little confused. He didn't understand why Shadow would do what he did.

Shadow saw his confusion. "The only reason Sonic got hurt, was because..." he swallowed. "was because of me."  
"I was wondering how it happened," Knuckles said.

"It started when Eggman turned some of his robots invisible. I destroyed the first few surrounding me, but one got behind me. It punched me in the head, and for a minute I was dazed. I saw Sonic jump in front of me, and he started trying to protect me. By the time I was ready to fight again, we were surrounded. There were still more than half the robots left. Sonic had forgotten about their guns, and in order to protect me, he took a shot to the shoulder. I got up again, started fighting, knew it wouldn't be enough, so I called Knuckles down," Shadow confessed.

"And then I called Tails down as a final defense for the Master Emerald," Knuckles continued. "You tried your best, Tails, but Eggman was still able to get around us and steal the emerald. Unfortunately, even though it's invisible, it still possesses the same power as always."

"Wonderful," Tails said sarcastically. As Shadow and Knuckles recounted the battle, he had begun dressing Sonic's wound. But he needed help.

Fortunately, the help arrived just then. "Tails, I'm here," a voice said from the doorway. Everyone (except Sonic, of course) turned around. Amy Rose walked through the doorway and into the living room. She stopped when she saw the cobalt hedgehog lying on the couch. She gasped at his wound, and immediately went next to him.

"Sonic..." she whispered. Tears sprang to her eyes.

Then her expression changed. Determination appeared on her face. She turned to Tails. "Tell me what to do."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Sonic's dream_

_Sonic was running through a forest. It was nighttime. He was looking for his friends, and the chaos emeralds._

_There was a snap somewhere to his left. He stopped and looked in that direction._

_"Who's there?"_

_Silence._

_Sonic started heading in that direction. He kept an eye out for any movement, but saw nothing. He continued until he saw footsteps. They looked like Tails'!_

_"Tails! Where are you, little buddy?" Sonic called. There was no answer, so he followed the footsteps._

_After about 10 minutes, the footprints stopped in the middle of a clearing. Sonic looked around, wondering where his friend could've gone._

_He started walking again, only to trip over something. Something he didn't see, no matter how hard he tried._

_"Hey!" someone yelped, right where Sonic tripped. "Tails, is that you?" Sonic asked. "Yeah. You ran right into me when I was sleeping. Didn't you see me?" Tails asked. He was thoroughly confused._

_"Nope. And I still don't," Sonic answered._

_"Sonic, be serious! I'm right here..." Then he fell silent. "Okay, now I'm scared. I can't see my own hand?! Why?!"_

_"Oh no," Sonic muttered. "Eggman. He hit you with his invisibility ray! That means...Knuckles! Shadow! Where are they?"_

_"They're right over..." Tails trailed off. They could both see that their friends were gone._

_Or were they?_

_"Well, if you were sleeping, then they probably are too! They've gotta be around he somewhere."_

_With that, Sonic started walking around the clearing. It wasn't long before he ran into two other invisible things. They both groaned and, from the sound of it, sat up._

_"Sonic?" Knuckles voice called. "What's going on? Where's Tails and Shadow?"_

_"I'm right here," said Shadow's voice a few feet away._

_"No, no, no, no, no," Sonic said worriedly. "All three of you Eggman shot with his invisibility ray!"_

_As Sonic finished, more things around the clearing began to disappear. "What?!" Sonic shouted. "How can this be happening?!"_

_Even more trees, plants, rocks, everything disappeared. Suddenly, the whole clearing was enveloped in a white void. "Ahhhhhhh!" Sonic screamed as he disappeared also._

Real world

"Ahhhhh!" Sonic screamed and sat up quickly. Everyone else throughout the house jumped. Tails and Amy were sitting in the living room, while Shadow and Knuckles ran in from the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Knuckles asked. Then he saw Sonic sitting up on the couch. "Finally! You've been out for 12 hours! It's the middle of the day. The battle was yesterday."

"That long?" Sonic swallowed. Then he felt pain in his right shoulder. He groaned and fell back again. Now he remembered. He had been shot by a robot over on Angel Island, trying to protect the Master Emerald. "The emerald?"

"Gone," Tails answered.

"Is the island okay?" Sonic asked.

"It's in the ocean. But, otherwise, it's fine," Knuckles said.

Then Sonic focused on Amy. "Hey there. What are you doing here?"

She blushed. "Tails called me. He said he would need my help. And he was right, by the looks of that bullet hole in your shoulder. Tails and I stitched it up, and I think you'll be fine. However, you'll also be pretty weak and tired for a while. You..." she swallowed, looking worried. "You lost a lot of blood."

Now that Sonic looked at each of his friends, he saw that they had all been really worried. Even...hmm. Shadow too. He had also stayed quiet. Sonic wondered what was on his mind. He actually looked kind of guilty.

"What's wrong, Shad?" Sonic asked.

He shrugged, and tried to make his face blank. It didn't work. "Nothing," he said a little too quickly.

"Uh huh. Come on, what is it?" Sonic asked again.

"Hmph."

"Really! What's bothering you?" Sonic pestered.

"Fine!" he growled. Then he got that guilty look again. "It's just, you only got hurt because...because of me. You were just trying to protect me. It's my fault."

Sonic was surprised. Shadow almost never let his emotions show. He must feel really bad for him to open up right now.

"Hey, it's not your fault." Sonic said. "It's Eggman's. And it's our job to ruin his plans like always. Right, gang?"

"Right," Tails said.

"Hey Sonic, since I'm already here, can I help you guys? They told me what was going on, and I really want to help."

"If you want to, Amy," Sonic answered.

Amy smiled at him, and he blushed. He hoped the others didn't notice.

"Alright, since we're all at Sonic and I's house, you can stay if you want. It'll be easier to plan that way," Tails said.

"Plan for what?" Knuckles asked.

"Why, for attacking Eggman, of course!" Sonic smiled. "And I, for one, can't wait!"

"Oh, no you don't. You are staying right here and getting better," Amy ordered.

"What?! But Eggman made it personal! I _have _to go with!" Sonic argued.

"Sonic, I agree with Amy. Eggman'll think we'll wait a couple days before doing anything. If we go, say, tomorrow, we can surprise him," Shadow said.

The blue hedgehog growled, but he knew how stubborn his friends can be. "How about I act as a lookout? If you guys need help, I'll be right there."

"Alright," Tails said. "But only if we really need it."

"Deal!"

XXXX

As it turns out, the group didn't need to go to Eggman. He came to them.

"How many emeralds do we have? We should have them all," Eggman asked a robot.

"We-have-7-emeralds," it said.

"Plus the Master Emerald?" Eggman asked hopefully.

"No. 6-chaos-emeralds-plus-1-Master-Emerald."

"Grrrrr! Where could that last emerald be? We've looked everywhere! Who else..." he trailed off. He knew who had the last chaos emerald.

_That annoying little rodent!_ he thought.

"Well... I guess we'll just have to get the emerald, eh?" he said, warming up to the idea. "Hahahahaha! Watch out, Sonic the Hedgehog! I'm coming for you!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey there! Sorry for the wait! I was East Peoria over the weekend and didn't have access to a computer. Sorry 'bout that. Anyways, thanks for the reviews! Things really heat up this chapter, and I hope you like it. If you have any questions, or ideas, just PM me.**

Chapter 6

It was around midnight. Tails was sleeping in his room, Amy in a guest bedroom, Knuckles in Sonic's room, and Shadow in the living room. Sonic stayed on the living room couch where he was before.

Everyone but Sonic was dead asleep. He was in that half conscious, half unconscious state. That's why when some kind of aircraft landed outside the house, he was the only one to wake up. However, when he looked out the window, he couldn't see the source of the noise, and it shut off almost immediately.

Sonic stayed alert, wondering if Eggman had turned a whole aircraft invisible. He didn't think so. He went back to sleep.

That was his mistake.

A minute later, Sonic woke up again, in chains. He was being lifted by something!

Then things got even worse. He was thrown into some sort of cage. It was too strong to break out of with his bad shoulder. And, if that wasn't bad enough, the invisible robot picked up the cage, and began walking towards a giant hole in the wall. Sonic was being kidnapped!

He looked around in desperation. There!

"SHADOW!" he screeched.

The midnight hedgehog jumped up. "Sonic! What-" he saw what was going on, and ran over. He punched empty air, and hit the robot that was about to carry the cage outside. He then dismembered the machine. When he was done, he too tried to break open the cage.

"I can't break the bars!" he shouted.

By now, the noise had woken up the other three. They came running down the stairs.

"What's going on? I heard a crash, and shouting," Tails said. Then they saw the cage, with Sonic inside, and ran over.

"Come on!" Shadow said. "We need to get him out of here before Eggman sends more robots!"

"Hold on! Why does Eggman want to capture Sonic? What's the point?" Knuckles asked.

"Because I'm the only one who knows the location of the last chaos emerald." Sonic said gravely.

All of them looked at him blankly. Amy was the first to get over the shock. "Oh, no. We have to get you out of there before Eggman sends reinforcements!"

Then Sonic remembered the airship outside. "It won't be enough! There could be a whole army out there!"

"AND SO THERE IS! Hahahahahaha! Your mine, Sonic the hedgehog!" The Egghead himself yelled from outside.

The wall imploded, and a ton of robots piled in, all headed in the direction of the cage.

"Noooo! Guys! Surround the cage! Keep them away from Sonic!" Amy ordered.

They did as she said, destroying anything that came close. Then Eggman brought out his invisibility ray. "Time to bring out the big guns!" he said.

Then he shot every single robot he could see. "Focus, gang!" Knuckles said. "They could be anywhere!"

No sooner had he said that, a robot nailed him in the gut, so hard he turned pale. Then he was down. The rest of the robots converged on the cage.

"Get me outta here!" Sonic shouted. His cage was lifted up, so it looked like it was floating in mid air.

"Sonic!"Amy shouted. She tried to knock down the robots with her hammer, but there invisibility made it easy for them to dodge. They hit her over the head, and she went down also.

Tails flew up to Sonic and tried to pick the lock, but Eggman started shooting at him. He dropped, and the robots fell on him too. "Oh no you don't! I'm gonna hold on to this one!" he taunted as he looped a rope around Sonic's cage.

Then Shadow spindashed his eggcarrier, and smoke started pouring out of it. "Robots!" he ordered. "Cover my retreat! And Shadow..." Eggman pointed a remote at Sonic. "Don't try anything. I've got the cage wired to explode."

The midnight hedgehog froze.

"No! Shadow, don't listen to him!" Sonic yelled. "Please!"

Shadow slowly shook his head in defeat. "I'm sorry, faker! I can't be responsible for your death."

"SHADOW!" the blue blur bellowed. His cage was lifted up by the eggcarrier. He was loaded into the invisible aircraft and disappeared.

"You chose right, Shadow. I'll take good care of him," Eggman said jokingly.

Then he too disappeared into the flying ship. The engine started up, and they were gone.

Shadow couldn't believe it. All they had gone through, for nothing. Because Sonic the Hedgehog was gone.

XXXX

Inside his cage in the airship, Sonic sighed. He hoped Tails picked up on the 'last chaos emerald' thing. It was Sonic's only chance if they wanted to rescue him. Either that, or he escaped.

He inspected the cage, looking for weak spots, a loose screw, anything. Eggman saw him.

"Don't even think about it. You can't escape. I made this cage specially for you." he said.

"I'll get out. I always do, Egghead. You always make some kind of mistake," Sonic replied.

"Don't annoy, hedgehog. I have plenty of plans, and if you anger me enough, I'll use them."

"Ohhhh, I'm soooo scared!" the blue hedgehog said in mock terror. Then he smirked. "I know what you want, Eggman. And your not gonna get it. You can do anything you want to me and it won't make a difference."

"You got one thing right. I can do anything I want to you." Eggman smiled as he pressed a button on the remote. It sent a charge through the cage and electrocuted Sonic.

"AHHHHH!" he screamed as he fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Then Eggman pressed another button, and it stopped. Sonic was breathing heavily.

"You see? And that's just a taste of what I can do! Hahahahahaha!" His laugh boomed into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Shadow quickly went over to the others. Knuckles was sitting up and rubbing his eyes, but Tails and Amy were out cold. Shadow helped Knuckles up.

"What...what happened?" Knuckles muttered. "Is Eggman gone?"

"Yeah."

"What about..."

"He's gone too."

Knuckles sighed. "Somehow, right before I went unconscious, I knew it would end like this."

Then he glared at Shadow. "You weren't unconscious, were you? Something caused you to let them go!"

"Yeah," the black hedgehog growled. "It was called 'do something and he dies'."

"Oh." Knuckles looked ashamed. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking. But what happened? Knowing you, it must've been life or death for Sonic. Am I right?"

Shadow nodded. He looked more depressed than usual.

"Come on. Help me carry Tails and Amy inside."

With that, he picked up Amy and walked back in the house. Knuckles followed with Tails.

"How are we gonna wake them up?" Knuckles asked after he set Tails down on a chair.

Shadow laid Amy on the couch (the same one Sonic had been on) and said, "I've got it."

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a cup. He filled it with cold water, walked back into the living room, and threw it on Tails.

"Ahhhhh!" he yelled. Then he groaned. "Oh, I feel like I got trampled!"

Knuckles chuckled. "You did!"

Then he turned serious again. Shadow had filled the cup again, and threw the contents on Amy.

She shrieked and shouted, "Shadow! What was that for?!"

"I needed you both alert! Don't you remember what happened? Eggman got away..." he gritted his teeth. "...with Sonic."

"What?!" Amy and Tails yelled in unison.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU GO AFTER HIM?!" Amy shrieked. She had started crying, and looked like she wanted to attack someone. Namely, Shadow.

"Woah, Amy! I did everything I could! But Eggman planned ahead. He told me the cage was wired with explosives, and if I so much as moved in their direction, he would blow Sonic sky high! What was I supposed to do?!"

She took a deep breath, but her eyes were still teary.

"Listen, we need to come up with a plan. We can't leave Sonic on his own."

They all thought for a minute.

Then Knuckles got an idea. "The chaos emerald! That's what Eggman's after. That's why he kidnapped Sonic. What if we found it and used it in a trade? The emerald for Sonic."

"No," Shadow said. "Eggman would just take the emerald _and _keep Sonic."

Then Tails got an idea. "We could still use the chaos emerald, though."

"Yeah, but if Eggman can't find it, how can we?" Amy asked.

"Sonic said he was the only one who knew the location of the last emerald, right?" Tails smiled. "Well, he was the one to hide it. He _is _the only one who knows the exact location. But I was there too, and I could probably lead you guys to the general area. Now, listen closely. What is the one thing Sonic hates the most? What is the only thing he fears?"

"Water," Amy said immediately. "But-"

"Just listen," Tails interrupted. "A couple years ago, Sonic and I were looking for the chaos emeralds with one of my inventions. It finds the emeralds by tracking their chaos aura. Anyways, one signal was coming from, literally, the bottom of the planet."

"The North Pole," Knuckles said.

Tails nodded. "Once I landed the Tornado, we headed in the signals' direction. We came to a cliff, and I realized that the signal was coming from under us. From under the water. So, I told Sonic to go fetch the scuba gear I keep in the Tornado. He came back, we suited up, and jumped into the water. As soon as we were under, I spotted an underwater cave, and we swam into it. As it turned out, we didn't need the scuba gear after all. The ceiling was sloping upwards, and after swimming about 20 feet, we surfaced. And I saw the most beautiful thing ever."

He paused. The other three were listening intently.

Tails continued. "In side this cave, there was a small beach made of fine, white crystals, like sand. The walls and ceiling were covered in identical crystals, but these were huge. And sitting on a crystal alter, was the white chaos emerald. There was light coming off it, and it reflected in hundreds of rainbows on the crystals. For a couple minutes, we just floated in the water, staring at the sight. After we overcame the shock and beauty of the place, Sonic walked up to the emerald. It glowed a little brighter as he stretched his hand out to it. He stopped, and the emerald floated into his hand. Then he said, 'Tails, close your eyes. I need to hide this.' So I did, and a second later, Sonic led me out of the cave and back into the water. I opened my eyes, we swam to the cliff, and climbed back up. We got to the Tornado, and set off. On the way back home, I asked Sonic if the emerald would be okay, and he answered, 'Yeah. No one will be able to find that emerald, except for us. It will always be the last chaos emerald.' That's why, when Sonic said he knew the location of the last chaos emerald, he meant the white one."

Tails took a deep breath. The others looked at him, wide-eyed.

Amy broke the silence. "We still don't know exactly where the emerald is. Sonic could've hidden it anywhere!"

"That's the thing, though," Tails said. "I don't think Sonic moved it at all. I think he just placed it back on the alter, and that's why he led me back outside before letting me open my eyes. I'm pretty sure it's still there."

Shadow nodded. "That does sound like something Sonic would do. He wouldn't harm that cave in any way. I think that's what we should do, guys. We need to find that chaos emerald, and fast. Who knows what Eggman could do to Sonic in a single day, even."

"Get your stuff together, and meet me by the Tornado. We've got an emerald to find!" Tails ordered. They set off, determination on their faces. They were going to save Sonic. No matter what.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! Okay, so earlier I realized I made a mistake. I said the white chaos emerald was at the bottom of the world, but then I said it was at the North Pole. My mistake, and from now on, I'll say South Pole. I can't say Antarctica because it's not Earth. It's Mobius. That's all. Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 8

"Is everything packed?" Amy asked as they finished strapping their supplies in the Tornado.

"I think so," Tails answered.

"Do we have the chaos emerald tracker?"

"Yes."

"And the scuba gear? Just in case?" she persisted.

"Geez, Amy! Of course we do! I swear, your acting like my mother." Tails said, exasperated.

Amy sighed and nodded. "I know. I just want to find the emerald as soon as possible. I'm worried about Sonic."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Tails said, although he too was scared for his big brother.

"Yeah. Sonic can handle anything," Knuckles added helpfully.

Shadow looked over the plane one last time. "Come on. The sooner we get in the air, the better."

With that, he jumped onto the right plane wing. Knuckles went on the left, Tails climbed into the cockpit, and Amy went in the passenger seat.

Tails started the engine, and they took off. The sky was fairly clear, and they made fast progress.

But after about ten minutes, a missile appeared out of nowhere. Shadow saw it first.

"Incoming missile, Tails!" he shouted. Tails looked in the direction he pointed and saw the rocket. He immediately put the plane in a nose dive.

"Is it following us?!" he yelled.

Knuckles looked up. "Yeah!" he answered. "It must be a heat-seeking missile!"

Tails took a deep breath. _Alright. Concentrate. I can do this,_ he thought. He aimed the plane at the ground, and then, at the last second, he pulled up. The missile tried to follow, but instead hit the ground and exploded. Everybody sighed in relief.

"Wait a second," Amy said after a pause. "Where did that thing come from?"

"Eggman," the guys replied in unison.

"Okay then. How do we find him?"

They thought a bit. "I've got it," Tails said.

He maneuvered the plane so it was facing the spot where the missile appeared. He then started firing the machine gun attached to the Tornado. Most of the bullets missed, but about a quarter of them hit... something. That something lost it's invisibility. Now that it was visible, it was obvious what had fired the missile. Eggman's airship. Maybe even the same one he used to capture Sonic.

"Argh!" Eggman's voice, amplified through a speaker somewhere, shouted. "Now your gonna get it!"

The ship let loose a load of missiles, but, like for the first one, Tails piloted the Tornado well. All of the rockets missed, and instead they hit the airship.

Eggman groaned from inside the cockpit. Now he had to retreat. He wanted to know what Tails and the others were up to. He knew they would stop at nothing to save Sonic. But with his ship badly damaged, he would have to get it repaired. _Look on the bright side,_ he thought. _I can still torture Sonic when we get back. That should cheer me up quite nicely._

Eggman had to find the last chaos emerald. Otherwise, the blue hedgehog might get rescued, or escape. After all, it was the emeralds power that kept Sonic prisoner. With all the emeralds, his prison would be completely invincible to any attack.

As the villain retreated, he came up with a new plan. He figured the rodent's friends would try to find the emerald. Assuming they succeeded, they would most likely bring it with when they came for Sonic. Eggman decided he would just wait for them, while he repaired his ship. Then he would snatch the emerald.

Shadow knew something was up after Eggman retreated. He had backed down too quickly. The black hedgehog had expected more. Oh well. He would just have to wait and see.

Tails sighed in relief. With a damaged ship, Eggman wouldn't come back any time soon. Now they could focus on the job at hand.

"Everyone okay?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Knuckles replied. Shadow also nodded.

"Alright then," Tails said as he turned the Tornado north.

XXXX

Sonic was nervous.

As soon as the air ship landed, he had been taken to a large cavern. In the middle of the room was some kind of tube. It looked kind of like a roboticizer, but it was surrounded by controls. Sonic hadn't liked the look of them. They were almost sinister. And later, he found out they were (spoiler!).

The tube's glass was lifted up, and Sonic was forced into the contraption. Then the glass came down, and he was left in there for a couple of hours. During that time, he inspected his prison. The tube was about five feet in diameter. The glass wasn't too thick, but Sonic couldn't break it, not with his bad shoulder. It gave off a soft glow, but he didn't know why.

Finally, Eggman came in. He was smiling.

"So, how's our little, heh heh, _guest_ doing?" he asked.

"Umm, bored, hungry, amused to see what you'll do to me. Nothing I can't handle, I'm sure," Sonic smirked.

"Oh, is that what you think? Try again, rodent. Your trapped in an unbreakable-" he coughed, and continued. "-unbreakable prison."

"Or so you say," the hedgehog taunted. For just a second, Sonic saw a worried look on Eggman's face. He wondered what that meant.

Eggman's expression went back to normal. "You can't escape. The Master Emerald and the chaos emeralds provide enough power to contain you." That made sense. The whole contraption practically hummed with energy. "And once I get the white emerald, I will drain their power." Now he smiled. "And then, I will drain you."

"How are you gonna do that?"

"Behold!" Eggman brought out a cannon-like contraption. "The chaos siphon!"

Sonic turned pale. "You... rebuilt..."

"Hahahahahaha! You won't be able to go super, or use chaos control, or anything! You will be stuck normal, and then I will destroy you." He laughed some more as he began walking out of the room. "Good night, Sonic the hedgehog! Sleep good! Your going to need it!" Then he was gone.

Sonic was still frozen, trying to think of what that meant for everyone. Shadow would lose all of his chaos powers. No one would go super any more. Eggman would gain the upper hand.

He shuddered, then laid down and tried to get comfortable. He would need any rest he could get.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It was around midnight.

Tails sighed in relief. They had finally arrived. He had been flying the Tornado nonstop. They'd been in the air for about eight hours straight, and everyone else had fallen asleep. Fortunately, although it would've been funny, Shadow and Knuckles didn't fall off the wings during the trip.

Now that they were back on the ground, Tails gratefully passed out too. They slept for another few hours.

Shadow woke up first. He shook Knuckles awake, and then got Tails and Amy up too. They all ate a little food from their supplies, and set off.

Tails was leading. He was holding the chaos emerald tracker, and, like before, it led to the cliff.

"Okay, guys. Here's the drop point," the fox said. Then he jumped in the frigid water, followed by the other three.

Immediately, they saw the cave. It was circular, about six feet in diameter. Tails made sure the others were following him, and then swam into the cave.

The group continued swimming the 20 feet, and then surfaced. They all gasped. Even Tails, who had seen it before.

The cave was even more beautiful than Tails described. The fine, tiny crystals that made up the beach glittered a million colors. As did each of the large crystals, which were at least five feet tall. And the crystal alter, right in the middle of it all.

There it was. The white chaos emerald. Even more brilliant than any crystal. It glowed a strong, white light that reflected around the cave. Everyone stared in silence, taking in the sight.

Then Amy said, "Wow. It's more beautiful than I ever imagined!"

"Yeah," Knuckles said.

"Yes!" Tails shouted. "We found it!"

Even Mr. Dark and Dangerous looked happier, and more at ease than he'd ever felt. He even smiled.

But then his expression was lost, like he had remembered something unpleasant. Which, of course, he did.

"We have to take it," he said.

The other three looked at him blankly, before remembering why they were there. "Oh," Amy said, looking down.

"What will happen to this place after we take the emerald?" Knuckles asked to no one in particular.

"I guess... it will go dark." Tails replied. "Maybe we can bring the chaos emerald back afterwards, but right now we really need it."

Shadow walked up to the alter. He reached out, and, like it did for Sonic, the emerald floated to his hand. He put it in his quills.

"Come on. We should go," he said in a low voice.

Tails nodded, feeling determined. "Alright, gang. Back to the Tornado. To my house, and then to Sonic!"

They all took one last look at the cave, and then swam back out. They climbed the cliff and got back to the Tornado. Tails prepared for takeoff. He looked at the others.

"Ready gang?"

"Ready," they replied in unison.

They took off. It took them about seven hours to get back to Tails' house. Once they landed, they all headed into the kitchen. Shadow set the chaos emerald in the middle of the table, and they surrounded it. They stared at it, trying to come up with rescue plans. None came.

Tails grew restless. "Is anyone hungry?"

"Tails! How could you think that? We need a plan!"

"Amy, calm down! We'll figure out... something."

Knuckles sighed. Shadow just stayed silent. He was deep in thought. Then he looked up. "I've got it!"

"A plan? Spill it!" Amy ordered.

"First, I need a schematic of the fortress. Does anyone have one?"

"Yeah," Tails said. He ran up the stairs and came back down a minute later. In his hand was a scroll. He spread it out on the table next to the emerald.

Shadow explained his plan. "Okay, listen. We'll break in through the main doors here." He pointed to the doors. "Once we get in, I'll lock on to Sonic's chaos signature using the chaos emerald. We'll bring this floor plan, and then I'll try to pinpoint where Sonic is. Then, we'll split up down the four paths here, here, here, and here." He pointed at the four hallways. "Each of us will have a copy of this map to know where to go. Eggman would then send robots to stop us. We'll take down as many as we can in order to make his forces smaller. Less guards with Sonic, then. We should all be able to find Sonic, and that's where we'll meet up again. Then we break Sonic out, and maybe grab the other emeralds, too."

Then the midnight hedgehog folded his hands. "So? Could it work?"

Tails nodded. "It's possible. It might give us the upper hand against Eggman with less robots to deal with."

Shadow turned to the others. "What about you two? What do you think?"

Amy smiled. "I think it'll work. Count me in."

Knuckles stood up. "Me too."

"Now, the question is," Tails started. "when?"

"As soon as possible," Amy said.

"How about tonight?" Shadow suggested.

The others agreed. "Let's get ready," Tails said.

XXXX

Eggman knew exactly what to do. Sonic could see it in his eyes. The villain was standing at the control belt surrounding the prison. He pressed a button.

There was a gurgling sound near the top of the tube. All of a sudden, a small stream of water hit Sonic on the head. It was ice cold. Sonic shivered.

"What's this, Eggman? You gonna drown me?" Sonic asked. "I thought you wanted information on the last chaos emerald!"

Eggman cackled. "Not anymore, rodent! Somehow, your little friends will find it. They always do, so I'll let them. Then, when they come to rescue you, I'll take the emerald for myself. You know the rest. I'll drain all of the emeralds' power, and then I will drain you! Or, more accurately, your power. And I can't wait!"

"So, what's with the water? You don't need me."

"Oh, I'm just annoyed at your friends for damaging my air ship. And I plan on taking it out on you!"

Eggman pressed another button, and the small stream turned into a waterfall. In no time, Sonic was soaked. But it didn't stop there. Pretty soon, the water level rose above his knees. Then, his waist. Then, it went over his head. Sonic panicked. He couldn't swim!

At least, not well. The hedgehog was able to tread water and stay afloat, which is what he did now. Fortunately, Eggman shut off the water, and it quickly drained out of the tube.

Sonic stood up again, now chilled to the bone. "What's wrong, Eggman? Didn't want me to suffer?"

"No, that's exactly what I want. And I have an even better idea than drowning you." He pressed yet another button on the control belt.

At first, nothing happened. Sonic smirked. "What? Did something else break down? It always seems to happen..."

He was cut of by a buzzing noise. Then, what appeared to be a bolt of lightning hit Sonic dead on. He yelped in surprise, but did not make any other sounds.

Eggman was disappointed. "Hmm. Let's try that again."

The next bolt hurt even more. Since Sonic was wet, the shock traveled through his body. However, the blue blur still didn't scream. He still stayed on his feet.

Now Eggman was annoyed. "Still not enough, rodent! Again!"

This time, he didn't stop the bolts. He just let them pound Sonic over and over again. Finally, Sonic fell to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain. The villain enjoyed the whole thing.

"Time to put him out of his misery. Almost," Eggman muttered. He pressed one more button, and Sonic was hit with one more, extra strong blast. He fell unconscious.

Eggman smiled. "Until tonight, Sonic. I'll let you rest, and then I'll be back." And with that, he swept out of the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sunset.

Time to move.

Four figures walked out of Tails' house and into another building. They climbed into the Tornado and prepared for takeoff.

Tails checked over the controls one last time. Then, he made sure Knuckles and Shadow were in position on the wings, and Amy was strapped in the passenger seat. He started the engine and taxied out of the building.

"Ready guys?" the fox asked.

"All good!" Amy answered for the others.

Tails nodded. He sped up the plane and took off. They flew low in the sky, while keeping a sharp eye out for trouble. It wasn't long before the Egg Fortress was in sight. It looked like a modern version of a Medieval castle. Very sophisticated. So, of course, the defense system kicked in and launched a volley of missiles their way.

The Tornado barrel-rolled and dodged each one. They weren't heat-seeking, so Tails had no trouble avoiding them.

He landed the plane about fifty feet in front of the main door. Shadow would need time to pinpoint Sonic's location.

The midnight hedgehog jumped off the plane immediately. He faced the fortress, closed his eyes, and concentrated on one thing only: Sonic's chaos signature. It took about a minute, but soon he was rewarded. A blurry image filled his mind. It wasn't too hard to make sense of it. Sonic was standing in a glass tube surrounded by a control belt. To anyone else, he would appear to be bored. But Shadow knew him too well. He could tell that he was actually tired. That alone worried him. It took a lot to make the blue blur tired, and it took twice that to make him show it. He was staring at a fat figure dressed in red. Obviously Eggman.

Shadow forced himself to stop paying attention to the image and focused on Sonic's position. After confirming the location, Shadow opened his eyes. He knew where to go.

"Okay, I got it," he said. He took out his copy of the fortress map and a pen. He pointed and put an X on the room Sonic was in.

The other three came over. "That's good," Tails said. "Sonic's right in the middle. We should be able to meet up again before we break him out."

"Give me that pen, Shadow," Amy said. "I'll mark the rest of the maps." She put X's on the other schematics.

"X marks the spot," Knuckles stated. Shadow nodded. "Come on. I'll break the door down."

The black hedgehog raced to the door, while charging up a blast.

"CHAOS BLAST!" he shouted. The bolt traveled the short distance to the door and... fizzled out?

"What the heck?" he muttered angrily. "Fine. Old-fashioned it is."

This time, he went with a spin-dash. It can normally break through pretty much anything, but not this door. Now, Shadow was furious.

"Why can't I get through?!" he yelled as he banged his fists on the door.

Then Tails went up to it. He put his hand on the cold metal, and frowned. "Eggman's getting smarter. This door is made of Megatal, the strongest metal on Mobius. There's no way we'll get through it."

Knuckles smiled. "Then we'll just have to go under it. Stand back, everyone."

They complied, and just in time. Knuckles began to dig, and pretty soon dirt clumps were flying up from the still-growing hole. From the sound of it, the echidna was almost on the other side. There was a pause, and then Knuckles popped back up. "I'm through. Fortunately, the Megatal doesn't go underground. Come on."

He crawled into the hole again. Amy, Tails, and Shadow followed.

When they climbed up the other side, all they saw was white. White walls, white floor, white ceiling, and white doors that appeared down some of the hallways. And it was completely silent.

Tails shook his head. "Something's up. This place is too clean to be Eggman's."

"Just stick to the plan," Shadow ordered. He stood out like a raven in the snow. He paused, then headed down one of the four hallways. The middle-left one.

Knuckles shrugged, and chose the far left path. Amy went to the far right, and Tails walked down the middle-right hallway.

_Jeez, _Tails thought a couple minutes later. _It's eerie in here._

He had just finished the thought when a robot appeared in his path. Literally, appeared out of nowhere. _Guess the invisibility wears off. _Tails got in a defense position. He blocked a punch to the stomach, and delivered an uppercut of his own. A few more hits, and the robot went down, sparking and twitching. _And the defense isn't that good. Cool._ More robots came down the hallway. The fox jumped at them. _For Sonic!_

Elsewhere in the facility, Knuckles was surprised by a hand swatting at his head. He ducked, punched what looked like empty air, and hit metal. The invisibility wore off, revealing a mech lying on the ground, apparently having been taken out by the echidna's hit. He kept going, leaving robot parts in his wake.

Amy was thinking about Sonic. She was in such deep thought that she didn't notice a door opening and closing in front of her. That is, until a robot tried to hit her, slipped, and fell with a loud _thump_. She immediately brought out her Piko Piko hammer and swung blindly. "Sorry. Reflexes," she said after crushing the robot's head. She stayed alert after that.

Shadow hoped the others were doing okay. He had heard the faint sound of something hitting metal, but then it was gone. He was surprised nothing had come after him yet. All of a sudden, he heard heavy footsteps coming from the hallway in front of him. _Guess they aren't trying for stealth, _he thought. The black hedgehog ran forward until he saw the small army of robots heading his way. Instead of waiting for them to arrive, Shadow kept running and spin-dashed through the first five mechs or so. _I should've known this would get ugly, _he thought as he went after the others.

XXXX

Sonic glumly watched the action from his prison. Eggman had set up surveillance cameras so he could watch the visitors and torture Sonic all at the same time. Oh, goodie.

The hedgehog didn't know what Eggman planned to do to him, but getting electrocuted had completely drained him. Maybe that was the plan. He didn't know.

Eggman came into the room. "Hello, rodent! How are you today?"

"Still bored. Still hungry. Wondering how long you'll last against the cavalry." He smiled at the monitors.

"Yes... your friends are making good progress. Unfortunately for you, nothing they can do will break you out of there. Sorry," he said in mock forgiveness.

"Anyway..." he continued. "What shall I do to you this time? Oh, I know!" His finger stabbed a button on the control belt.

Immediately, the tube began filling up with ice cold water. Now, say it with me: _again._

"Not very original, Egghead!" Sonic yelled jokingly.

"Just you wait!"

Now the water rose above Sonic's head. He began to tread water, which even he could do. Even with his almost healed arm.

Anyways, now the deadly twist came with another button press. A big, stone column that almost touched the sides of the tube fell into the water, forcing Sonic under. The column continued until his feet touched the floor, and he was able to hold it up. But just barely. His legs shook with the strain.

The column was taking up to much of his energy. He had been tired to begin with, and now he was losing air.

_No! _the blue blur thought. _It can't end like this! I need help! Wait, my friends... _

He glanced over at the monitors. He was in luck. While he was watching, Shadow made it to one of the doors to the room Sonic was in.

_Shadow, _he thought to his friend. _Open the door! I need you!_

He wasn't sure how he heard him, but the midnight hedgehog looked around in surprise, and then at the door. He pushed it open...

XXXX

**Cool. My first major cliffhanger! And just in case you thought the story was coming to a close, think again! I've got plans...**

**By the way, if your wondering what Megatal is, I read about in Sonic the Comic. And it really is the strongest metal on Mobius. There you go.**

**Well, unfortunately, my plans will have to wait. July 8 through July 13, I will be at Silver Birch Ranch up in White Lake, Wisconsin. I've been getting everything I need together, and that's why my updates have been more spread out lately. So, sorry, but it will be a while before I update again. **

**See ya. Wouldn't wanna be ya. jk ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi there! Sorry this took so long. I was gone for, like, a week, and then it took me a while to get this chapter the way I wanted it. So, my bad. Hope you like it! Please R & R!**

Chapter 11

_A few minutes ago..._

Shadow finished off the rest of the robots in his path. He looked at the map again, and saw that he was close to Sonic. The tricky part was finding a way in. The schematic didn't show doors. Oh, well.

The midnight hedgehog stopped in front of another door. _This one looks different from the others, _he thought. And it was. The lock was bigger and stronger than the others, although at the moment is was unlocked. _I wonder..._

He was interrupted by a voice in his head. _Shadow! Open the door! I need you! _Shadow almost gasped out loud. The voice sounded like Sonic!

He looked around, and then at the door again. He turned the nob...

_Current time_

...and stepped inside. In front of him was his vision. Sonic was trapped in a tube surrounded by controls, and Eggman was standing in front of the belt with his back to Shadow. The only difference was that his friend was in trouble.

The tube was filled with water, and the blue hedgehog was being crushed by a stone pillar. Shadow had to get him out of there, or he would drown.

"Move it, Eggman!" he shouted as he pushed the villain away with so much force, he slammed into a wall. Eggman stared in shock, and then laughed.

"Go ahead and try, Shadow!" he said gleefully. "But you'll only make it worse. And more entertaining for me, of course!"

Shadow turned away. He couldn't waste any time with Eggman. "What do I press?" he yelled to Sonic. The blue hedgehog tried to answer, but couldn't without choking on water. He just shook his head. The stone column was still pressing down on him, and his legs were shaking slightly from the weight. Shadow had to get him out of there, and fast. Sonic could hold his breathe for a while, but no more than a few minutes. And the column didn't help.

The black hedgehog decided to try and break the glass. He threw a chaos blast, but, like the door, it fizzled out. He spindashed the tube, but bounced right back.

"Now what?!" Shadow yelled. He was beginning to panic. He ran over to Eggman, grabbed his collar, and hauled him up.

"Which button lifts the column?" he growled menacingly. He dragged him over to the control belt. "Which one?!"

Eggman smirked. "How do you know I won't lie?"

"I don't. But if you _do _lie, I promise you won't live to see another day," Shadow threatened.

Sonic glanced over in surprise. He hadn't realized how much Shadow cared about him. He quickly focused again on not being crushed. He was getting slightly lightheaded from lack of air. _Shadow! Hurry!_

Shadow jumped a little in surprise, and then remembered what had happened before. He looked at Sonic, and saw that he was running out of air. _I'm trying! What should I do?_

Sonic tried to think clearly, but it was difficult. All of a sudden, the pressure increased, forcing him to one knee. _Aah! Shadow, what'd you do?!_

_Nothing! It was..._ He looked over at Eggman, who had his hand on a lever and was laughing in triumph. "Eggman! Stop!"

"Hah! Or what?" he cackled. "I could crush Sonic with just a flick of my wrist."

Shadow sweat-dropped. "Then why don't you?"

"Because you have something I need. I hope you have the white chaos emerald?"

Sonic froze. _Don't do it, Shadow. You can't!_

_I have to. What else can I do?_

_Th-the lever! Eggman's pressing it one way, so press it the other!_

Shadow glanced at Eggman. He was watching him closely to make sure he didn't do just that. _I'm gonna need some kind of distraction. But what?_

Not one moment later, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy burst into the room. They quickly took in the scene and ran over. Knuckles went right for Eggman and restrained him. The villain was so surprised he didn't get the chance to press the lever anymore. "Argh! Darn you, echidna!"

"I take that as a complement," he replied. "Hey!" That last part was because Shadow shoved them both out of the way and pushed the lever the other way. The pressure lessened significantly, and column was lifted out of the tube. Sonic quickly swam to the surface and gasped for air. He smiled. "Thanks, faker."

"No problem. But how do we drain the water? And how do we get you out of there?" Shadow asked.

"I think I can help with that," Tails said. "These controls look complicated, but are actually pretty simple. Let me see." He pressed a button, and the water quickly drained out of the tube. Sonic's feet touched the floor again. Tails smiled in triumph, but then frowned as Sonic collapsed. Amy, who had been staring at Sonic the entire time, gasped. "Sonic! What's wrong? Are you okay?"

He stood up shakily. "Yeah. I'm just really tired." He glared at Eggman. "Alright, Eggy. Better let me out, or Amy's gonna pulverize you with her hammer. Right, Amy?"

Amy smiled as she pulled out her Piko Piko hammer. "Oh, yeah. You hurt my Sonic, and I hurt you back." She approached the villain.

"Wait!" Eggman shouted. "No need for that."

He walked over to the controls when suddenly, he lunged at Shadow. He reached into his dark quills and grabbed the white chaos emerald. "Oops. Guess I lied. Hahahahahaha!" he laughed as a platform disappeared beneath him and he dropped to the lower floor. The platform slid back into place. He was gone so fast only Sonic saw it all.

"No!" the cobalt hedgehog yelled. "No no no no no!" He pounded the glass in frustration. His friends were confused at his outburst.

"Sonic," Tails said. "We can just get it back like we always do. We just get you out of there and-."

He was interrupted by the blue blur. "That's just it! Eggman told me that the Master Emerald and the chaos emeralds provid the power that strengthens the glass and keeps me trapped. With all the emeralds together, he'll be the only one capable of letting me go. And he'd never do that willingly."

He leaned against the glass in exhaustion. Everyone was quiet for a second. Then Shadow spoke up. "Then we'll make him let you go."

"He won't do it." Then Sonic remembered the other part of Eggman's plan. He tried to shake off his drowsiness. "That's not all. Eggman rebuilt the chaos syphon, and he plans to drain the emeralds' power with it. None of us would... be able... to go... super... anymore..." Sonic's eyes closed, and he fell to the ground, asleep.

Amy freaked out. "Sonic? Sonic! What's wrong?! Please wake up!"

Tails calmed her down. "He's fine. He's just been through a lot in only a small amount of time. Eggman knows how to drain someone all to well."

Knuckles nodded. "But now we need to get him out. Any ideas?"

"Well," Shadow started. "If Eggman just got a hold of the last chaos emerald, do you think he could've installed it already? Maybe without it, the glass is breakable. Everyone, surround the tube. We all have to hit it at the same time."

They got into position. "Okay, on my mark, we all jump and hit the glass as hard as we can," Shadow ordered. "Ready? One, two, three!"

They leaped at the glass. Shadow performed a spindash, Knuckles pounded the glass with his knuckles, Amy hit it with her hammer, and Tails just used his fists. They landed back on the ground and inspected the tube. The glass hadn't shattered as they had hoped. However, a small crack did start.

"Again!" Shadow commanded. "One, two, three!" They repeated the maneuver, and the crack expanded until it stopped about half of the way around the tube.

"Come on, guys! One more time!" Shadow ordered. "One, two, THREE!"

Again they leaped at the glass, and this time they were rewarded. The crack expanded until both ends met. Tails flew up and pushed on the top half, and it fell and shattered on the ground. Sonic stayed unconscious. The fox flew into the tube and landed next to him. He tried to shake him awake.

"C'mon, Sonic. Wake up. Please wake up," he whispered. The hedgehog didn't respond, so Tails picked him up, carried him out of the tube, and carefully laid him on the floor. The others surrounded the two brothers. Still, Sonic did not move.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. "Darn it!" Shadow said. "I guess Eggman doesn't want his prisoner to escape. His loss. Let's get out of here."

He started towards the door, but paused, turned around, and walked back to Sonic. He bent down and picked up the unconscious hedgehog. Without a word, he walked to the door. Again he paused, but only to call, "Are you coming?"

The other three shook themselves out of their shock and followed Shadow into the hallway.

They hurried through the white building when the front door came into view. Instead of crawling through the tunnel, Knuckles punched the doors open. Much easier than crawling through the tunnel. The group figured they would have a clear path to the Tornado. Boy were they wrong.

"Hello, there," Eggman said. He gestured to the army of robots behind him. "You didn't actually think I would let you rescue Sonic, did you?" He laughed, and then shouted, "ATTACK!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello again. Sorry for the wait. I was in Glen Ellen for a while because of my sisters softball tournament. Hope you like the chapter. PM me any questions. **

Chapter 12

"STOP!" Shadow bellowed. Surprisingly, Eggman held up his hand and stopped his robots from attacking. For the moment.

"What's this? The Ultimate Life Form don't wanna fight?" the villain asked mockingly. "If you really don't want to get beat up by my army," he paused as he looked at the hedgehog in Shadow's arms. "maybe we can make a deal."

"Heck no!" Amy shrieked. "If you so much as touch my Sonic, I promise I will make you beg for mercy!" She brought out her Piko Piko hammer and swung it angrily. "Get the picture?"

"Ooooh, I'm so _scared! _What are you gonna do? Give me a concussion?" He laughed some more.

Knuckles stepped forward. "We'll never let you take Sonic. Why do you want him so bad, anyway? You've got all the emeralds. Leave us alone!"

"Can't do that!" Eggman replied. "It's just to much fun causing someone pain. Especially that thorn-in-my-side hedgehog! Did he not tell you my plans for him?" The villain laughed. "Once the emeralds are emptied of their power, I'll suck Sonic dry!"

Tails winced. "Guess he forgot to mention that part."

Eggman laughed again. He and his army took a step forward. "Oh, and Shadow? Don't think I forgot about what happened on Angel Island. The robots here," he gestured behind him. "only make up half of my forces! The other half roams inside my fortress, unseen. So, no Amy, that's not a good idea."

Amy froze. She had been trying to back into the building for the group to escape that way. Now she was out of ideas.

Shadow tried to think of a plan. His main focus was keeping Sonic safe, but he couldn't do that if he had to fight. Then he got an idea. First, contact his friends.

_Knuckles. Can you hear me? _Shadow felt the echidna jump slightly behind him. _Don't freak out. It's me, Shadow._

_How is this possible? _Knuckles returned.

_I think it has to do with the emeralds. I talked to Sonic this way when he was still trapped in that tube._

_Oh...okay._

_Listen, I have a plan. It's not a very good one, but it'll have to do. We have to run._

_Run? Did you just say...think, run? You've never run from a fight! Man, you've been acting strange lately._

That last bit surprised Shadow, but he kept going. _I care more about getting Sonic out of here. Look, I think we should all run at the robots like were going to fight, but then jump right over them. We might be able to make it to the Tornado and escape. Will it work?_

_It has to. How do we tell the others?_

_I'll distract Eggman a bit longer. Do it quickly. _Shadow stopped concentrating on Knuckles. He needed to keep Eggman talking.

"Eggman," he started. "If we let you take Sonic, would you let the rest of us go?" Amy gasped quietly. She stared in horror at Shadow until Knuckles whispered the plan to her. Eggman didn't notice. He was to busy bending over and laughing.

"Maybe!" the villain cackled. "Depends on my mood!"

He straightened back up. "Are you serious, hedgehog?"

"I don't know, Eggman," Shadow retorted, smirking. "Depends on my mood." Eggman smiled.

"Oh, haha, very funny. Now, the rodent please." He held out his hands.

Shadow paused. _Knuckle, did you finish?_

_Yeah. They're ready. Just give us the signal._

_Good. _Shadow focused on Eggman again. "Not on my life, Egghead!" he snarled.

"That can be arrang-" He was cut off by Shadow, who yelled, "GO!"

The group charged at the enemy. They acted like they were going to fight, but, to Eggman's surprise, they leaped right over him and his robots.

Shadow landed first and sprinted to the Tornado. He made it there first and strapped Sonic into the passenger seat. Amy would just have to make do on the wing. Then the black hedgehog ran back to the other three. They were halfway to the plane, but Shadow saw that they wouldn't have time to take off before the mechs arrived. Time to improvise.

Tails reached the plane and climbed into the cockpit. He got the engine started, but it would take a minute for the propellers to reach flying speed. He came to the same conclusion as Shadow. They needed more time.

Knuckles jumped onto the right plane wing. He helped up Amy, who looked a little nervous about not flying in a secured seat. What if she fell off? The pink hedgehog shook her head. She had to do this for Sonic. She would not fall.

Shadow saw that everyone else was on the plane, just waiting to take off. But he could tell that the army would reach them first. He would have to stall the robots.

The black hedgehog ran back to the approaching mechs, and began destroying them at super-sonic speed. In two minutes, the enemy had been reduced by half, and the Tornado was ready for take off. Shadow decided to stay on the ground, and just run the whole trip. That way, Tails would have some protection.

Shadow kept fighting until the plane took off. Then, he started running in the direction of Sonic and Tails' house.

Just as the hedgehog picked up some speed, something tripped him. One of the invisible robots! Eggman had called for reinforcements. Perfect.

"You aren't getting away that easily, hedgehog!" yelled the approaching Eggman. "If I can't have Sonic, you'll just have to do!"

Shadow struggled, but now there were more robots, and they pinned him to the ground. He couldn't move.

Finally in the air at last, Tails saw that Shadow wasn't following them on the ground. He looked back, and saw the robots circled around something. It was an easy guess as to what they were looking at. Tails turned the Tornado down towards the mob, and fired the plane's machine guns. He knew he was taking a big risk. He might hit Shadow. But it had to be done.

As bullets peppered the ground, the robots froze. The first few that were hit fell and started sparking. The rest of the robots began to retreat, and Shadow was able to break free. He leaped up and became a black streak on the ground.

Tails saw this, turned the plane back towards his house, and flew away, triumph bubbling in his chest. They had rescued Sonic! Yes, they did lose the chaos emerald, but they could just get it back later. They always did.

XXXX

Eggman growled at the sight of his enemies escaping. They slipped through his fingers _again! _Oh, well. At least he got the last chaos emerald. With all of the emeralds together, he would have almost unlimited power.

_What if I used that power? _he thought. He dismissed the idea quickly. Sonic and his friends would just find some way to get the emeralds back, and then where would he be?

The villain went back in his white-washed fortress and headed to the emerald chamber. The room was dark, with stone walls, like a cave. But there they were. One tall alter with the Master Emerald floating and glowing above it. Seven shorter and thinner pillars with six of the seven chaos emeralds on top. And one dark, empty spot just waiting to be filled.

Eggman reached in his pocket and took out the white emerald. If only Shadow had known where it was! Eggman probably wouldn't still have it if that had been the case. Too bad. That was the hedgehog's problem, not his.

The villain reached up and put the glowing emerald on the last pillar. All of the emeralds shone brighter. And brighter. And brighter, until he couldn't look at them anymore. They lit up the whole chamber, and then died back down.

As Eggman stared at his prizes, he decided to wait until tomorrow before he started with the chaos syphon. He needed sleep, and so did his enemies. No one would be attacking his fortress that night, so it should be peaceful.

Eggman walked out of the chamber with one last glance over the emeralds. Savoring it while he could. Tomorrow, he would gain the upper hand in the war, and he would finally end it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey there. Listen, thanks for staying with me and some of you for your reviews. Sorry this chapter took a while, but I've been kinda busy, and I had short-term writers block. **

**Hope you like it!**

Chapter 13

The Tornado landed in front of Sonic and Tails' house at around 10:30. Shadow was already there. He had gotten there about ten minutes earlier, and was leaning against the front door as the others arrived.

He looked up as the plane taxied closer, and then stopped. Knuckles jumped off the wing, and Amy followed. She looked a little tired and shaky, but not to bad for her first trip on the wing. Tails, still in the cockpit, gestured for Shadow to come over to him. The black hedgehog hurried over. The fox leaned down and spoke. "Help me get Sonic inside. He needs to rest."

Shadow nodded. He jumped and landed right in front of Sonic. He undid the straps, took the unconscious hedgehog into his arms, and jumped back off the Tornado. Then he ran inside and carefully laid Sonic on the living room couch.

Amy and Knuckles walked in. Amy anxiously glanced at the blue blur. "It's like déjà vu," she said quietly. Knuckles nodded. "What is wrong with Eggman? Why does he always target Sonic?"

Shadow had been kneeling on the floor next to the couch. Now he stood up, exasperated. "Seriously? Isn't it obvious?"

Knuckles looked blank. "What?"

"Oh, come on!" Shadow growled. "It's simple. Eggman's the villain. Sonic is the hero. Ever since the beginning of the war, Sonic has thwarted plan after evil plan, and Eggman hates him to his core for it. He would do anything to break his main rival." he waved a hand in Knuckles face. "Is it clear now?"

The echidna swatted his hand away. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then Tails came in, his face blank. He walked right up to Shadow, and... hugged him.

Hard.

Shadow looked down at the fox with great surprise. He put a hand on Tails' shoulder and pushed him back a little. "What was that for?" he asked softly. Tails looked into his ruby eyes, and smiled.

"That's for getting my brother home, safe and sound." He sniffled a little as he looked at Sonic. Shadow had to remind himself that Tails was still a kid. He was such a genius that he tended to forget.

Amy was all smiles. "Come on, Tails. I'll take you up to your room." She took Tails' hand and they walked up the steps together.

Shadow and Knuckles stood in silence, all the while watching Sonic for any movement. None came.

Knuckles broke the silence. "What's changed in you, Shadow?"

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked.

"Well, ever since Angel Island, you've been a less dark and mysterious. More open and caring."

"Hmph."

"Seriously! It's like, all of a sudden, your trying to help and protect him." He pointed at Sonic.

"Maybe."

"I know it's true. First, you helped with his gunshot wound. Then, you came up with the plan to break him out of Eggman's fortress. Finally, instead of fighting, you ran in order to keep him out of harm's way. Your like a brother to him now."

Shadow nodded slowly. "Yeah. I guess I am."

"And just now, when Tails hugged you. You accepted it, and when you talked, you sounded like a completely different person."

Shadow just shrugged.

Knuckles smiled. After a moment a silence, he said, "I'm assuming you want to sleep in here for the night?"

Shadow nodded again. "Yeah." After a moment, he added, "And Knuckles? You keep quiet about this. The others will eventually figure it out."

"Okay. Good night."

"Night."

After the echidna went upstairs, Shadow turned off the lights and settled down on the love seat. He looked at the ceiling in the dark and thought, _Is he right? Have I changed? Now that I think about, I have been trying to help Sonic._

A little bit later, he fell into a deep sleep. Over on the couch, Sonic smiled in his sleep, as if he had heard everything.

* * *

Sonic woke up late the next morning. He sat up, opened his eyes, and closed them again. _Am I dreaming? _he wondered. _Am I still in the Egg Fortress? _He opened his eyes again, and took in his surroundings. He was sitting on a couch in a room that looked familiar, but he couldn't place it at first. Then it hit him, and he broke into a smile. _I'm back home! This is the living room! And...and... _Then he saw Shadow, who was still sleeping. In a rush, memories of the night before entered his mind.

Sonic swung his feet onto the floor. He stood up, but immediately a wave of dizziness knocked him to his hands and knees. The movement and the noise woke Shadow up, who saw Sonic on the floor and shot to his feet. He ran over and helped the cobalt hedgehog back onto the couch.

As Sonic laid down again, he saw something he'd never seen before: Shadow the hedgehog was smiling.

"Shadow...are you okay?" Sonic asked tentatively, his voice rusty. He blinked, and then the midnight hedgehog was gone.

* * *

Shadow sighed in relief. He had chaos controlled himself into the tree that was outside the living room window. He could see Sonic, and watched him fall asleep again. He still looked tired, and Shadow knew how hard it was to rest completely after going through something like he had.

The black hedgehog thought about himself. Ever since Sonic took a bullet meant for him, Shadow had felt like he owed the hero. And when he was kidnapped, Shadow had known that he would do anything to rescue him. Just now, when he had seen Sonic awake and okay, he had felt like he would burst with happiness. Knuckles was right. Sonic had changed Shadow without even trying to.

That's what made Sonic special. That's what made people like him, and Shadow had followed suit. Now he felt like a brother to the hero.

Shadow decided to let his friends find out for themselves. If he told them straight out about his new, softer side, they might forget about the original part of him. He was one of the best fighters. Mr. Dark and Dangerous. The Ultimate Life Form. He didn't want them to think of him as a big softie.

_Who am I kidding? They'll always know the deadly side of me. But this new part of me, I like it. And, judging from Knuckles reaction, they will too._

Shadow decided to clear his mind. He jumped down to the ground and took off running, creating a sonic boom.

* * *

**Kay ya'll, hope you liked it. Shorter than my norm. So, tell me. Do you like this softer side of Shadow? I hope so, 'cause I do. And I'm probably gonna stick with it, unless everybody hates it (do you?). I think next chapter will just be making a plan to invade the Egg Fortress (spoiler!), and after that I'll get to the action. Think I should finish up the story soon?**

**Please review! I want to know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey there! Sorry for the long update (again), but I've been out of the house a lot lately, what with school beginning soon :( and planning for my dad's b-day party. Oh well.**

**Read and review, please!**

Chapter 14

Shadow came back from his run ten minutes later and walked inside the house. He saw that Sonic was still sleeping, so he tried to be quiet.

The black hedgehog went into the kitchen. He figured everyone would be hungry, and decided to make breakfast. He got pancake mix from the pantry and a skillet. Then he got a big bowl and poured some of the mix in. He followed the directions on the box and put in the rest of the ingredients. Then he mixed them together.

_I hope I'm doing this right, _Shadow thought. _I've never actually used a stove before._

Five minutes later, he successfully turned on the stove. He put the skillet on top, gave it a few minutes to warm up, and poured four circles of batter. He didn't know exactly how long they were supposed to cook, so he decided to wing it.

He took a spatula a few minutes later and flipped the first pancake. It was a light brown color, which he figured was the right color, and flipped the other pancakes. After another couple of minutes, he flipped the flapjacks again, just to make sure they were done, and put them on a plate.

_Cool. I just made a successful batch of pancakes, _he thought happily. He grabbed one and took a bite. He smiled. _Perfect. Now I have to make the rest. _

He poured more batter on the skillet, and repeated what he did before. And he did it again. And again. And again, until all the batter had been cooked.

He was putting the pancake-filled plate on the table when he heard a gasp behind him. He turned and saw Amy. She was staring at the pancakes, and then at him. "Shadow? Did you make us breakfast?"

Shadow tried to keep his face blank, and nodded. Amy smiled. She walked over, grabbed a pancake, and took a bite. Her eyes got big. "Wow. This is one of the best pancakes I've ever tasted! I didn't know you could cook."

He was about to reply when someone else walked down the stairs. "What's that smell?" Tails asked. He took in the scene in front of him. He got a surprised look on his face. "Shadow? Did you make pancakes?"

"Yeah."

Tails nodded slowly. He reached over to grab a pancake when Knuckles ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Man, I'm starving! And it smells so good!" He got a pancake and shoved it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, his eyes closed in relish. He stopped, and opened his eyes to see everyone else staring at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "I'm hungry."

Shadow smirked. "Glad you like my pancakes, Knuckles."

The echidna all but choked on his second pancake. He stared at the hedgehog in shock. "Since when can you cook?"

Shadow shrugged. "No idea."

"Well, I want another one." Everyone laughed.

* * *

A while later, they had all eaten until they were full. And there were still half of the pancakes left. Shadow had made a _lot._

The group of four was still sitting at the table, when they heard a small _thunk _come from the living room, followed by slow footsteps. They watched the doorway in silence, when Sonic appeared. He had one hand against the wall, but otherwise he looked pretty good. He looked kind of uncomfortable with the stares, but he tried to smile. "Hi everybody."

Tails got up and ran over to his brother. Then he hugged him. Sonic smiled for real, then, and hugged back. The others got up from the table also. Amy hurried over and grabbed the blue hedgehog's arm.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" she cried. "I was so worried!"

"I'm fine, Ames. Just a little shaky," he replied. Then he looked at Shadow. He cocked his head slightly, and thought to Shadow. _You don't want me to tell them about earlier today, do you?_

Shadow stopped himself from shaking his head. _Preferably not. Thanks for asking, though._

_No problem._

Sonic sniffed the air. "Do I smell... pancakes?" He looked at the table, and saw the pile of food. "Wow. Who made all these?"

"Shadow did," Tails answered. "And there really good!"

"They smell delicious." The blue blur tried to walk over to the table, but he only made it a couple steps before he fell to one knee. His friends helped him up, and, with their help, he shakily made it to a chair. He practically fell into it, much to everyone else's worry. He saw their expressions.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm just really hungry. Remember, I haven't eaten since before I was captured," he explained. Then he dug in, and pretty soon there were only a few pancakes left.

"Jeez. You _were _hungry," Knuckles said.

"Yeah. And I feel a lot better now that I've eaten. Right now, what I really want to do is go out on a run," Sonic said, about to get up from his chair.

"NO!" Amy yelled. "Are you insane?! You need to rest!"

"Aw, c'mon! I feel rested! And the only way I'll be 100% is if I start running again! You of all people should know that!" Sonic shot back. Amy was quiet for a second, and then sighed.

"Fine. But only if Shadow goes with you, so when you get tired, he can make sure you come back." She looked at the black hedgehog. "Will you go with him?"

Shadow pretended to think. Then he smirked. "Sure, as long as he listens to me."

"I'll try to slow down for you," Sonic mocked in a sweet voice.

"Yeah, Sonic'll be fine," Tails said, smiling. "He's usually feeling pretty good when he acts this way."

Sonic grinned like a kid in a candy story. "Adiós amigos!" he shouted as he ran out the door.

"Apparently, Sonic can run again," Knuckles plainly stated.

"I'd better go," Shadow said as he turned on his skates. "Before the faker does something stupid." Then he dashed out the door after his blue counterpart.

* * *

It took Shadow longer than he expected to catch up with Sonic. The blue hedgehog was running almost full speed. He still looked a bit shaky, but stronger as time went by.

A few minutes passed in silence. Finally, Shadow spoke. "How are you holding up, Sonic?" he yelled over the wind.

"Pretty good! I'm starting to get a little tired, though," he answered.

"We should head back!"

"Alright."

* * *

Eggman relished in the emeralds' glow. _All this power, and soon it will be gone. _he thought happily. _With something this beautiful, I will be overjoyed to destroy it. __Time to begin. _

He brought a radio up to his mouth and spoke. "Bring in the chaos syphon!"

Immediately, two robots came in, carrying the cannon-like power drainer. They set it down near the pillar with the yellow chaos emerald at the top.

"Bring down the emerald," Eggman ordered. One robot pressed a hidden button on the pillar and the column sank into the ground, leaving the emerald on the floor.

"Put it in the syphon, and begin the draining process," the villain commanded. His orders were followed, the switch thrown, and the emerald began to glow like the sun. Minutes later, the brightness began to slightly ebb. Eggman let out the breath he'd been holding, and smiled. It would take a while, yes, maybe even an hour for each emerald, but it would be worth it. _Mobius won't know what hit it,_ he thought as he laughed and exited the room. _Come and get me, Sonic the Hedgehog. I'll be waiting just for you._

* * *

**So? Did you like it? Tell me!**

**Anyways, I'm planning on finishing up the story somewhere around chapter 16 or 17. If you have any ideas for a really dramatic ending (I'm obsessed with drama) that's better than what I'm thinking, PM it to me. I love getting ideas from you guys, and your reviews really help a lot.**

**See ya later!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

By the time Sonic and Shadow made it back to the house, Sonic was breathing heavily. The hedgehogs slowed to a walk and entered the living room. The blue blur plopped onto the couch and tried to catch his breath. Knuckles was in the room too. He was watching TV.

"Hey there, guys. How'd the run go?" he asked.

Shadow, still standing, was going to let Sonic reply, but he was still out of breath, so Shadow answered for him. "We ran until he started to get tired. He agreed to come back, although he made sure to take the long way home. That's why he's still breathing a little harder than normal."

Sonic nodded. "It felt good to be out there again, but I knew if I tried to fight to stay out longer, Shadow would beat me. But _only_ because I'm still recovering," he added quickly. He smirked at the black hedgehog. "Any other time, I would win."

Knuckles rolled his eyes at the remark. "Whatever you say, Sonic." He chuckled and turned back to the screen.

"Anything good on?" Sonic asked.

"No, not rea-" he was cut off by a familiar jingle coming from TV. He stared at the screen in disbelief. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Sonic tensed. His face went slack as he recognized the tune. "No. No! Not yet!" He looked over at Shadow. "Get Tails and Amy!"

"Right here," the latter said as she was coming in from the garage. The males all turned to her, worry splashed across their faces. She took in the anxious expressions. "What's wrong?"

Sonic looked back at the television. "That's what!"

Amy stepped in front of the screen. She gasped at the logo that popped up, along with Eggman's voice echoing out of the speakers, shouting, "GUESS WHO!"

"Amy. Where is Tails?" Sonic demanded. The pink hedgehog didn't turn away from the TV, but she did stutter an answer. "H-he's in the garage."

In a flash, the cobalt hedgehog was gone, and then came back with said fox in tow. "Ow! Ease your grip, Sonic! I don't need a broken arm! What's got you so tense?"

Sonic didn't speak. He just pulled the young fox next to Amy, where he could see the television clearly. When he did, fear filled his bright blue eyes. "How could he move so quickly?"

He had barely finished the sentence when Sonic grunted in pain. He fell to the floor, and a second later, Shadow followed. They both clutched their heads, their friends rushing to help them up. After a couple seconds, the pain began to dissipate, and the two hedgehogs were able to pull themselves onto the couch.

Sonic's face was a little pale. He and Shadow, who was also pale, exchanged glances. "What the heck just happened?"

It took a while, but finally it clicked. In a whisper, Sonic said, "Guys, I think Eggman just finished draining an emerald."

Shadow, always the quiet one, nodded in agreement.

Then the villainous doctor began to speak. And his words chilled the five mobians to the bone.

_"Y'know, I've been trying for world domination for a long time. And I mean a_ long_ time. But every time I tried to make a move, this pesky little rodent always got in my way. He's always trying to be a hero and save everyone. And, sadly, he usually comes out on top. You know who I'm talking about. Who doesn't? I wonder if he's listening. Probably. Soniiiiiic! Are you watching this? I sure hope so. Because now is the time for me to be on top. This time,_ I'm_ gonna win!_

Sonic stiffened even more. Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen.

_Now, I know I always say that right before I fail, but this time, the hedgehog will be at a disadvantage. Wanna know why?_

A pause.

_Because I just happen to have all of these!_

On the screen, Eggman pushed through a set of doors. Amy gave a small gasp, and Tails was shaking his head, muttering 'no' over and over again. On the other side of the double doors there was a large, stone chamber. And inside that chamber were six of the seven chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald, each resting on it's own pillar.

Sonic could almost here the gasps of everyone else watching their TV right then. He couldn't believe how much Eggman was putting on the line. But maybe his reasons weren't just to stop Sonic. Maybe he wanted to spread fear. The fear of the villain actually winning. Because that fear would cause chaos. (pun very much intended)

As if in response to Eggman's presence, the emeralds glowed. That is, most of them did. Two colors were missing. The yellow chaos emerald was dim, it's bright sunny gold replaced with the ugly dark yellow of a bruise. It uselessly sat on its pillar, unlike the others that hovered above their perch. And the other emerald, the dark blue one, was absent from the others. It's pillar was empty, but Sonic knew where it was.

_Ahhhh. Isn't that a sight? All of the emeralds in one place... but wait! One is dead. Dark. Empty of power. Now, how could that have happened? Oh, I know! Because I caused it!_

_Here it comes, _Sonic thought.

_And how could I have caused it?_

Another pause.

_Because I rebuilt this!_

Eggman stepped aside to reveal the chaos syphon behind him, a robot standing next to it. Now, Sonic figured the audience was pretty confused. They've never seen the syphon before now, and they have no idea what it can do.

_Now, there are probably a lot of people out there who don't know what this thing is. Let me explain. The chaos syphon is a tool used to drain power, although I've modified it to do other things. Sonic, you know what I mean._

Eggman shot a pointed look at the camera. Then he walked to the front of the syphon. There, sitting in the opening of the device, was the dark blue chaos emerald. Sonic felt Shadow stiffen and clench his fists. The doctor smiled like he knew everything in the world.

_This little baby I stole from another very special nemesis, who looks a lot like Sonic. I'll give you a hint. He's black and red, wears rockets for shoes, can run really fast, and, last but not least, is immortal!_ _The answer should be obvious. _Eggman sighed. _Remember when he was evil and worked for me? Ahh, those were the good old days. But remember what my old ally did? _A shake of the head. _He went over to the hero's side! Talk about betrayal._

Sonic snorted. This history lesson was getting old. Yes, he was still a little worried, but getting more confident every second his enemy rambled on.

As if hearing his thoughts, Eggman abruptly closed his mouth. He was quiet for a second, a thoughtful look on his face. Then he glanced at the chaos syphon. A smile formed on his face.

_And now I'm gonna show you the true power of my device! Throw the switch!_

The robot did as commanded. It pressed a small black switch, and the chaos emerald glimmered and glowed navy blue. However, after a couple seconds, the powerful light slowly began to dim. Somewhere in the background of his heart pounding in his ears, Sonic heard Shadow growl under his breath. He glanced at the black hedgehog, and was surprised to see the downright murderous look in his ruby eyes.

Sonic turned back to the TV. He wondered how long it would take Shadow's emerald to be drained.

Eggman was admiring the syphon's progress. _This is my betrayers' chaos emerald. That is, _was. He chuckled. _And since Shadow the hedgehog used it sooo much, I know it should drain very fast. Like, in the next five to ten minutes. _The villain looked at the camera again. _For all those people on the heroes' sides, stick around! Cause I'm gonna let you watch this emerald slowly fade away. _

And Sonic and his friends did. They all stayed stone still, didn't even make a sound, just watched as the emerald slowly turned black. Finally, something happened. On the screen, there was a flash...of darkness. Sonic had never seen anything like it.

And then all clear thought dashed from his head, replaced by a familiar, gut-wrenching explosion of pain in his skull. He fell to the ground, eyes squeezed shut, hands gripping his head, and Shadow followed a split second later. Knuckles, Amy, and Tails unfroze and ran over to help the hedgehogs. Even though it all only lasted for a few seconds, Sonic felt like it went on for hours. Finally, the pain ebbed to a dull throbbing, and he was able to open his eyes again.

With one glance at Shadow, Sonic knew Eggman had just made things personal for the black hedgehog.

The TV screen had gone all snowy, but soon the image came back. It was Eggman. He was bent over his knees, laughing in joy at his success. Sonic could see the dark, cold emerald sitting back on its pillar, but it didn't float anymore. It just sat there like a regular, dull, boring rock. Drained and empty of power.

The blue hedgehog shook his head. He had pulled himself into a sitting position with a little help from Amy. "We can't let Eggman get away with this. If we feel a lot of pain for just one emerald, what will it be like if he drains them all? I won't stand for it."

"Neither will I," Shadow growled quietly.

Tails nodded in agreement. "I'm in."

"So am I," the pink hedgehog next to Sonic said. Knuckles also nodded.

Sonic smiled. "Alright, guys. We need a plan."


End file.
